Rick Perry likes to say he's not the candidate of the establishment, but he spent Friday afternoon wooing about 50 certified Washington insiders at the offices of the National Association of Wholesalers-Distributors.

And it appears the Texas governor did himself some good with the lobbyist-heavy crowd.

Going in with Perry's subpar debate performances fresh in their mind, some of the attendees said they came away impressed with the candidate's grasp of business and regulatory issues.

“He looks like George Bush but appears to have twice the intelligence and triple the energy,” said one lobbyist, who didn’t want to be identified describing a private meeting.

A second lobbyist said Perry was "fairly well in command" and capably handled questions on immigration, pensions, labor and the Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill.

The only time the Texan turned to staff was when he was asked how he felt when Mitt Romney put his hand on his shoulder in Tuesday's debate. The room broke up laughing and Perry light-heartedly passed the question on to his campaign manager, Rob Johnson.

The governor talked up his forthcoming flat tax and jobs proposal and said his campaign would hold a conference call preview of the plan on Monday.

Perry, as he often does publicly, said he was the authentic conservative in the race but didn't mention Romney directly. Delving into the campaign, the Texan touted his low fundraising burn rate and noted that he has full staff on the ground in Iowa and New Hampshire.

The idea behind the meeting, according to attendees, was to get Perry in front of uncommitted Republicans who could serve as potential bundlers. It was a get-to-know-you, not a fundraiser.

Those present included representatives from some of the nation’s biggest businesses and business lobbying groups, including Ford Motors, the Auto Alliance, which was represented by Mitch Bainwol, and the National Association of Manufacturers, represented by Ned Monroe. Also in attendance: Rob Nichols, head of the Financial Services Forum, Facebook's Joel Kaplan, Pfizer's Maria Cino and Perry Washington backers Kirk Blalock, Marc Lampkin and Stan Anderson.

After the meeting, Perry was expected to attend another one with foreign policy types, said an attendee.

The host of the first session was Dirk Van Dongen, an elite lobbyist and fundraiser who is helping Perry build support on K Street.

Kerry also told the crowd that as part of his tax plan he would balance the budget by 2020, according to an attendee